


Bildungsromance

by oppappa



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Coming of Age, Drabble Collection, Eating Disorders, Everyone is young, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, Lance (Voltron)-centric, M/M, Night Terrors, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slice of Life, Teenage Drama, Young Coran, everyone is human, my notes are important please read them, please read disclaimer before reading the prologue, slightly altered personalities
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-21
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-20 15:03:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12435288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oppappa/pseuds/oppappa
Summary: Lance wonders where life will take him and if it is true as to whether or not every action dealt to him is really required for his growth. Why couldn't he just be born a cat or a tree and just live a peaceful life?





	1. PROLOGUE

**Author's Note:**

> I want to warn people that this is a slice of life and there really is no particular relationship and is instead just the life of Lance and his character growth over time. I will place the ages of each character and, of course, over time they will age, but here are their ages at the start of the story:  
> Lance: 14  
> Keith: 14  
> Shiro: 13  
> Pidge: 14  
> Hunk: 14  
> Lotor: 16  
> Nyma: 13  
> Allura: 14  
> Coran: 14  
> Ezor: 14  
> Acxa: 14  
> Zethrid: 13  
> Narti: 14
> 
> I understand many of the ages for these characters are weird, but I had pre-written this story before I realized I can base VLD characters loosely around my own and post this.
> 
> Additionally, this is my first actual chaptered story that isn't just porn with a sequel of more porn. This is actually a more serious piece of writing and I would really like your feedback! 
> 
> Thank you and please enjoy the prologue!

As a young child, Lance was always the more energetic, the more sassy, and the more reckless child among the other students of his classes. With his persistent ADHD that koala hugged his very soul each day, Lance naturally claimed the title of Class Clown.

 

 _“Don’t wear it out!”_ he would say with a wink and finger guns.

 

Teachers always misinterpreted him as misbehaved with terrible temper problems and blamed it on his inattentive parents—or _parent_ considering he grew up with a single mother, but was raised by his older sister who was only still in middle school. The only reason any of his teachers still had faith in him was because of how ' _brilliant'_ he was, which happened to only shined through when he could sit down long enough to actually finish his work. Lance could have skipped a grade if it weren’t for his lack of “proper social skills”. It never occurred to Lance that the world did not, in fact, revolve around him.

 

 

Entering middle school, Lance initially feared to challenge himself with difficult classes— _‘what if I’m too stupid for them and I fail?’_ clouded his mind as he thought of every student that teachers showed favoritism to, none of them being him as he always held second place—and requested the regular classes, but through his sixth grade year he learned that honors was actually best suited for him because at least he could be more distracted by the bigger workload than by what shade of white the walls were. That and the fact that the teachers all found him too distracting with his bouncing legs, tapping pencils, and that he finished each test at least 20 minutes before everyone else.

 

Although Lance appeared to be such a well rounded young boy to the rest of his classmates—and then some—, his romance department, like many preteens, lacked in experience. Never had he experienced a romantic hug or kiss or any hand holding during his early years, so when the cute eighth grade boy asked him out in the winter of his seventh grade, Lance, of course, answered yes.

 

With having a boyfriend comes dates, and on their second date of their second week of dating, the two went to the mall to enjoy each other's presence and, well, date; while Lance appreciated the idea of being in a relationship, he always felt a queasy feeling while around his newfound boyfriend, but always disregarded it as butterflies of the unknown—what else could it really be? When the two boys started to feel hungry, the delicious sandwich shop across the street sounded fantastic! Together, hand in hand, they headed to the cross walk to safely venture on to getting their grub.

 

Once inside the shop, Lance ordered both of their sandwiches—his boyfriend already crippling with social anxiety or shyness to order his own—and ate together in a small corner of the sandwich shop away from most of the public. There the two had a mini eating contest and laughed all throughout their dinner—Lance finally began to start feeling more comfortable around his tan, freckled, and _adorable_ boyfriend.

 

After their meals and the sun retired, the two boys jaywalked across the street free-spiritedly to head back on over to the mall to wait for his boyfriend’s mom to come pick them up and take them home. Lance’s boyfriend seemed to have known that his mom would take some time to arrive and initiated a make-out session with Lance under the moonlit sky behind a tree that nearly blinded viewers on the other side from seeing them.

 

Lance was backed against a short fence in which behind it was a good fifteen feet drop from where their inexperienced make-out began. His boyfriend’s soft lashes drooped before he leaned in to attach his own lips to Lances. Although Lance really liked to kiss his dashing boyfriend, he felt that something as intimate as this shouldn’t be done in the public and tried laughing it off while attempting to push his boyfriend off of him—Lance didn’t want to upset him too much. His boyfriend continued to push himself onto Lance, forcing his tongue down the fearful boy’s throat. It was then that Lance felt hands caress his sides, outlining the rampant butterflies within his tummy, that then continued on their way to the front of his pants, palming him. Freaking out, Lance’s eyes broke open and he tried reasoning with his boyfriend that they were in public and maybe the best place for something like this shouldn’t occur near a mall parking lot.

 

“H-Hey shouldn’t we try doing this, like, uh… I don’t know… maybe at one of our places? Someone might see us or something you know?”

 

“Stop backing away from me babe, you’ll fall and hurt yourself. You don’t want to die or something do you? Chill out, nobody will see anything since it’s dark outside.” His boyfriend reasoned with a soft coo rubbing Lance’s biceps, while his eyes warned Lance that he was light enough to lift over the small fence if he continued to anger him.

 

Before Lance could protest anymore, his boyfriend plastered a smirk onto his face before returning his hands to Lance’s groin, continuing to abuse him with dirty fingers, the only thing keeping his innocence somewhat intact being the cloth from his pants and boxers.

 

Lance’s lips began to feel bruised as his stomach churned a feeling of the color of an ugly green, as if slime lined his inner organs as if anticipating to leave his body. His throat felt hot and acidic as if his stomach was preparing to present his barely digested sandwich to the world. Lance’s hands stayed drooped on their respective sides as his eyes began to water, begging for something or someone to save him. He didn’t want to die tonight, nor did he want to be taken tonight either.

 

It wasn’t until a call from his boyfriend’s mother rang through the icy air that his boyfriend ceased his palming and proceeded to answer his phone.

 

“Guess we’ll continue this next time, huh Lance?” his boyfriend winked and displayed a smile of pearly whites.

 

“Uh… y-yeah!” Lance half-smiled in return. At that moment all that Lance could do was mentally thank the boy’s mother for saving him at that moment.

 

 

That Saturday night when Lance returned home, he sat at his desk chair and stared into space for twenty minutes until his mother arrived home and knocked on his bedroom door.

 

“Hey Lance! How are you honey?”

 

It took a moment for Lance to register his surroundings and realize his mom was speaking to him. He turned to look at her, her eyes ringed with a natural darkened tone from a lack of sleep. “H-huh? Oh! Hi mom! I missed you, how was work?”

 

“Work was the usual, ya’know? Lazy customers, inconsiderate bosses, and too short of breaks!" She pauses to laugh and continues, "I’m telling you Lance you have got to graduate and go to college so you don’t end up like me!” His mom paused to smile at Lance, her eyes glowing just by looking at her beautiful growing young boy.

 

“How was your day Lance?”

 

“Mine? Oh, uh…” Lance thought about asking his mom about what she thought of the earlier events.

 

 _‘But what if she just tells me I deserved it? Maybe I do deserve it. I shouldn’t have egged him on. My boyfriend is going to get mad at me if I tell my mom! My mom is going to hate me if I tell her what I did!’_  

 

“My day was great! I went to the mall with some friends.” Lance lied with the taste of bile on his tongue, his forehead and back dampened by sweat.

 

“Well I hope you had fun! Hey, I’m going to go take my shoes off. Let me know if you need anything, yeah?”

 

“Y-yeah! Of course!”

 

After Lance’s mom shut the door, he took a few more minutes to stare into space as his mind pondered as to what he did and why it was his fault. All his fault. How could he do that to his boyfriend and mom? He was a terrible person that deserved to be punished for not being appreciative of is boyfriend. His mom would scold him for not appreciating what life gave him.

 

Lance proceeded to exit his bedroom and head towards the hallway bathroom. When inside he turned the bathtub knob to run water for a shower before proceeding to slowly lift his shirt over his head. He dropped his shirt to the floor and continued to unzip his jeans pulling them down along with his boxers. In the mirror Lance couldn’t see physical marks on his skin, but on the places his boyfriend grasped him he visualize angry red welts in the shape of butterflies trailing along his abdomen. Lance stepped into the shower, hesitant, before grabbing his loofah and squirting nearly all of the body wash onto it and proceeding to roughly scrub his body.

 

When Lance finally exited the bathroom, his skin was burdened with a tender pink.

 

 

The following Monday at school, Lance broke up with his boyfriend, and yet it was Lance who sobbed that day—but why?


	2. 'Cause You Know I'd Walk 1760 Miles If I Could Just See You Tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why does Lance always fuck up?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if you read my prologue when I first posted, you know that I originally didn't place this under underage and rape, instead I put a warning before the story. Well I changed my mind regardless of whether or not the whole story has this. 
> 
> Please enjoy this chapter! 
> 
> ps. I am so sorry for typos or errors of any sort!

His favorite phone call came through at roughly 8:47 that night.

 

Lance jumped in surprise and nearly pounced for his phone as soon as the familiar tune hit his ears. Only one person calls him from Skype and that’s his best and only friend. He taps the answer button and permits his face to be shown in all it’s glory, excited to see his friend’s lit up by the artificial lighting of his own laptop.

 

“Hey there Lance!” Lotor greeted him with a smile. It’s not everyday the two are able to converse.

 

“Oh god! I have missed you so damn much you have no idea!” Lance beamed, hardly remaining in his seat. His heart beat increasing, eyes dilating, toes wiggling, all with excitement. Could Lance love anybody more in his life? Lance paused and thought: no.

 

“How have you been Lance? You’re starting high school this year aren’t you? Are you excited?” Lotor questioned Lance, his eyes twinkling like a charming prince paired with his accent that reminded Lance of a custard delight.

 

“Don’t remind me! I’m actually so fucking freaked out, like, nobody I know is going to be there. I’m going to be alone! No friends! Solo! On top of that, you know how hard it is for me to make friends, they always think I’m weird!” Lance exclaimed at his monitor. His hands animating every word he says making sure Lotor understood his feelings one hundred percent.  “How does it feel to finally be an upperclassman this year? I hear juniors have the most fun. Let me know if it is true!” His eyebrows wiggled as a devious smirk graced his face.

 

Lotor guffawed as if he had heard the best joke of his life, “Dude! Junior year is workload year. It’s the hardest besides being a freshman and freshman year is only hard because it’s a new start. It’s all emotional stuff, whereas I have to actually work. Wait until you’re a sophomore, you’ll love it. Nothing is better than that!”

 

Before Lance could complain any further Lotor continued, “Also, I feel like I live in the middle of fucking nowhere here in Ohio. At least you live in Vegas! Say hello to the diversity that lacks where I come from. I swear I think I’m the only one who looks like me here.”

 

Lance thought about it before shrugging his shoulders. “Yeah, you got me there. At least there’s more diversity where I live. Maybe you should come move over here!”

 

Snowflakes fell upon Lance’s mood when he realized what he had said and his eyes began to tear, hands shaking.

 

Lotor shook his head disapprovingly, “We’ve already been through this Lance. How are two teenage boys going to find money to meet each other? You forget that just because I’m older it doesn’t mean I miraculously have my life together.” Lotor’s eyes drift down towards his keyboard.

 

A moment passes.

 

“Hey… I-I’m sorry,” Lance apologizes, “I just really want to see you in person, I was being really selfish. It’s just that,  you’re one of my only friends and…” Lance hushly explains, his lungs nearly void of oxygen. He stares at Lotor through his monitor and analyzes his features.

 

Lance took this time to analyze Lotor’s messy hair, his eyes sad and dark, and his t-shirt hanging a little too loose for his’s liking. It wasn’t long before Lance’s eyebrows furrowed staring at Lotor’s chest, faint outlines of the boy’s ribs begin to plague Lance’s thoughts. The color is red in an atmosphere of blue as Lance fights with himself not to mix the two, despite purple being Lotor’s favorite color. Lance’s tongue clicks before he’s had enough keeping things to himself; Lance’s mouth speaks before he has time to think about the outcome.

 

“I thought we talked about this.” Lance states frankly.

 

Lotor’s eyes drift from his fingers back up to the screen to look at Lance, lips parting slightly, eyebrows meeting, and eyes questioning Lance as a breathy sound of ‘huh’ escapes from between his dry lips.

 

“I can them. I can see your ribs, we talked about this. That everyday you would love yourself and eat; and that every day I would love myself and sleep. No more starving and no more night terrors, we talked about this! We both agreed it was easier said than done, but you look even worse than when we agreed upon this!” At this point Lance was yelling at Lotor through his monitor, animosity clouding his head. “We both said we were better than them, that we wouldn’t let them or ourselves get the best of us! I slept for five hours last night Lotor, two more fucking hours that when we started this, but you haven’t even left base one and it’s been _how_ long? Six months?”

 

Tear drops pool in Lotor’s eyes and it takes all but less than a minute before he blinks and one by one each drop meets their fate as gravity wins the battle.. A pained sob escapes him as his body of primarily bones and skin shake in an uneven rhythm, his rickety hands cover his own face while his hair, seemingly out of place with the rest of his body, gracefully falls forward to blanket his small figure in comfort. Quietly he begins to chant through sobs _‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.’_

 

Lance is an asshole.

 

His bottom lip quivers as he watches the aftermath of his own insensitivity unfold before him. _‘Oh, God. What have I done?’_

 

Lance had once searched online as to exactly how many miles it was between him and his beloved friend and although his monitor read 1,760, in this moment he knew he was going to have to work an extra thousand to bring his friend back onto his feet after the damage he inflicted upon him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	3. Broke Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who can Lance fall back on when he needs help?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't proofread, sue me!

Lance finds an actual friend after two weeks and it only takes him a semester to nearly ruin it. 

 

He has two classes with this friend, Biology and Japanese, and it was in Japanese one day that Lance complimented his future friend’s shirt that referenced to an obscure webcomic he also happened to enjoy. One short conversation later and the two would eat lunch, text, and gossip together everyday.

 

Lance makes a mental list of all of his new friend’s qualities over time:

 

  1. His name is Shiro
  2. He doesn’t like it when hair touches the back of his neck.
  3. Nice anime and comic taste!
  4. Band participant.
  5. He lives in a house. 
  6. Two parents that support him. 
  7. A sibling who is in college 
  8. Weekly allowance?
  9. Has a friend who they Skype because they live in a different state 



 

_ ‘Why do I document facts about people in this way?’ _ Lance stops thinking this way because this is weird.

 

Regardless, Lance notices that he feels jealous when Shiro speaks of his home life. Lance never knew what an allowance was until someone had explained that to him in junior high, nor did he have  _ two _ parents with  _ careers _ or _ any _ member that ever attended college in his family. How is it that someone can just ask for something and get it? The idea blew Lance’s mind!

 

Lance considers everyone else he talks to acquaintances in comparison to Shiro, but regardless of the love Lance has for him, Shiro says things that he doesn’t realize hurt. Words sometimes leave Shiro’s mouth without a single thought and at time, Lance’s anger begins to boil in a little pot just waiting to be released. In addition to that, Shiro doesn’t apologize and lives carefree almost as if he thinks the world owes him something.

 

The day before Thanksgiving is chaotic in school because everyone just cannot wait until their four day weekend. Most students are absent, but the ones that are here tap their pencils on the desks, fidgeting and waiting for that last bell to release them. Come lunch, Lance’s leg almost grew one whole ab for how much he was bouncing it while he listened to the various conversations of the students around him.

 

“Yo, Lance! Wanna hang after school?” Shiro asks during lunch, a piece of lettuce still hanging out of his mouth and small glob of ranch dropping onto his pants. “Dang!”  

 

Shiro’s request causes Lance’s eyes to widen with a sparkle before he grins and replies, “ _ Hell yeah _ ! Where do you wanna go?”

 

Shiro ponders the idea, shrugs, and settles with, “We can just go to my house.”

 

Lance’s heart felt as though it leaped. His friend wanted  _ him _ to go to  _ their _ home?

 

“Alright! Let me just call my mom, so she doesn’t worry about where I am!” Lance answers what would be a nearly permanent smile on his face.  _ ‘What a cool friend!’ _ Lance thought.

 

 

When the two enter Shiro’s home that afternoon and Lance can’t help but to stare in awe. The living room is decorated with various couches and a small table room table, there is a piano, the family dining room is spacious with an eating space and an office, and a subtle view of the patio and backyard. Millions of thoughts roamed through Lance’s head as he attempted to take everything in when Shiro interrupted them. 

 

“So what do you wanna do?” Shiro looks at Lance. “Oh! I have that one game you said that you like! What’s it called… Quelf!” 

 

Lance shakes his head as he continues to absorb his surroundings. This place is nothing like his own. 

 

 

Throughout the day, the boys play a board game before heading to Shiro’s room to watch anime, Skype Shiro’s friend, and even take photos and videos of themselves. At some point Shiro’s mother orders pizza and the two sit and eat on Shiro’s bed. 

 

There is a big window with a neat windowsill next to Shiro’s bed and Lance looks out and  thinks that this must be what living is like. If Lance lived like this, he thinks that maybe he could rule the world, or at least know the rest of his life can be lived comfortably with a family he can fall back on if he needed to.

 

Back at home,  _ he _ was who everyone relied on and needed to succeed for them to fall back on.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
